Selkie 969

A line of dialogue got cut from this one to keep the focus on the suppression aspect of the device (which is really the important bit). The proximity trigger for the message display Selkie had been watching was set too far. Hence why it first went off while she was already in the car driving away from the building.

It's a detail I meant to show the thing was assembled hastily, but I left t out of the comic proper for space reasons.

I’m sure he’ll TRY to take her away… but it remains to be seen if he gets his anger under control and tries it with “sweetness and light” by maybe “suggesting” that Selkie “stay HERE for a while…” meaning like a vacation, without Todd’s supervision, but intends to effectively kidnap her to the labs where he can test her/train her and /or brainwash her into doing HIS will instead of leaving her with Todd…

OR

if he’s just going to come out and use the old “I’m her species/clan/family/whatever…” and basically say that “human laws don’t mean squat, i’m going to take her away no matter what you and Agent Brown say…” then there’ll be a knock-down drag-out fight on his hands from Todd at least…

where the hell does this ‘kidnap to the labs and brainwash’ idea come from
just
what
why
she’s his kin who he wants to be brought up in her own culture is all
even if he is willing to go to illegal means for it, it’ll be just to give her a normal upbringing for a sarnothi child
that’s literally his entire point here

He can try to take her away from Todd, …I don’t think he would try that, but I AM worried about them “Testing” and experimenting on Selkie, I’m worried what that will do to her world-view. These are my (Blood-kin) people, not my adoptive people, and they are willing to do (X) to me? What will the land-lubbers be willing to do?
That might send her into a tail spin.

Unacceptable is an interesting choice of words. Not sad, not terrible. Suggests he’s been inconvenienced. And that what he cares about is Selkie’s use, not her well being.
…and maybe that her mom had to right idea if so.

While that is true, I’d be more likely to say “unforgivable” or “unthinkable” for that one. Going by connotations, “unacceptable” tends to put the emphasis on how things affect the speaker. At best, it could be framed as a parent speaking to a child about “unacceptable” behavior, but since this centers around the parent needing to correct and teach, the context is similar imho.

Depends on the situation to some degree, terrible to say, but if your child will be forced into a war that isn’t theirs to fight, and the only way out is permanent damage that keeps them from fighting, someone might go to those lengths to avoid having their child used as cannon fodder. Whether it’d be unacceptable would depend on the situation heavily. “Here’s your child’s rock and stick, now kindly go charge that machine gun nest” “Well he would but he can’t even walk much less charge.” Whether that’s a fair analysis of where this war stands, I don’t know. too little info on how outmatched any given side is.

nah, there’s too much implied “she will save us” mentality in his prior pages content that makes it seem that he’s only interested in using her as a weapon against the Sar’Teri Oppressors than in HER as a Person… and as Leoness said earlier, from his choice of words it bodes ill of any other explanation of his anger, than he’s “inconvenienced” in his plans to use her any way he can.

1. As Leoness notes above, this guy just wants to use Selkie as a tool and is bad.

2. There may be long term health effects of completely suppressing an Echo like that. An Echo may need that ability to compensate for a lack of other function present in normal Sarnothi or it could have an amplification effect as the sudden removal of such a powerful device can cause the powers to just sort of roar back and become uncontrollable.

while she may have wished to cripple selkie´s ability so that she could have a normal life, i don´t believe that plo quar would have risked selkie´s health with a hastily+shoddily made thingy and a far too strong setting…
my hunch is more along the lines that she may have known something that we´re yet unaware of – like maybe selkie´s powers were too strong or blossoming too early and would´ve turned against her.

On a more serious note… Gien. Buddy, pal… Ya better clarify exactly what and why it’s unacceptable. Or you’re gonna have serious amounts of red in my ledger to scratch out. If, like many people are guessing you’re pissed because now you’ve lost a weapon… yeah you’re gonna have a hard time earning my respect back.

HOWEVER.

If you find it unacceptable that Plo Quar essentially mutilated her daughter’s natural gifts without giving Selkie a choice in the matter… I might be more inclined to see why you’re angry shes lost her abilities. But I’m not gonna lie… you’re not doing so well so far.

HUH? you’re mixing your universes here… Agatha is from Girl Genius, and Shinji and Asuka are from Avatar the Last Airbender…

and i’m pretty sure that Dondonesque meant “repercussions”, as that was what set Agatha off on her ENTIRE story-line!! (12+ books and counting!) though it IS fair to say that this ALSO resembles what happened to Agatha as well.

I just re-read through all of he current strips from the beginning to here A)In an effort to regain forgotten information and B) because the story is amazing and i love it. Keep in mind, i’ve been a steady reader since the 220’s or so, it’s just that good. I’m pretty sure you’d be nominated to become an honorary Jin’Sorai if they existed. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s post!

this may be unpopular, though I get a different read. Gien just said he was hoping that she was happy. I think much of his people’s legacy has been lost. Selkie has lost much. Her parents, her history, her family, her clan, her stories. Now this too? It IS unacceptable. He may not blame Todd — how was he supposed to know? He may blame Plo Quor or more likely he may blame the tribe that attacked the Jin’Sorai, as in “If they never agressed us she wouldn’t be without a family blah blah”… I am curious to see what she will do next. I am assuming the black and green dialogue is meant to be telepathic? So that the ‘old farmer’ cannot hear?